Service center shipments of steel and aluminum in January were well behind the pace from the same month in 2015 in both the United States and Canada, reports the Metals Service Center Institute, Rolling Meadows, Ill. Service center inventories continued to decline in all products.

U.S. service centers shipped 3.1 million tons of steel products in January, down 13.3 percent from the same month in 2015, but up 9.9 percent from December.

Service center steel inventories totaled 8.0 million tons at the end of the month, down 20.1 percent from January 2015 and 4.1 percent compared to the previous month. At January shipping rates, that represented 2.6 months of supply, down from 2.8 months the previous year.

U.S. service centers shipped 123,000 tons of aluminum during the month, down 5.6 percent from the same month in 2015, but up 9.7 percent from December.

U.S. service center inventories of aluminum products totaled 382,100 tons at the end of January, down 6.3 percent from the previous year and 2.8 percent from December 2015. At January shipping rates, that represented 3.1 months of supply, flat with the same month last year.

Canadian service centers shipped 389,700 tons of steel in January, a 4.0 percent decrease from the same month in 2015, but a 42.8 percent increase from December.

Canadian steel product inventories totaled 1.3 million tons at the end of the month, down 19.2 percent from the same month last year, but up 7.2 percent from December. At January shipping rates, that represented 3.2 months of supply, down from 3.8 months the previous year.

Canadian service centers shipped 9,800 tons of aluminum during the month, a decrease of 15.1 percent from 2015, but up 28.9 percent from December 2015.

Canadian inventories of aluminum products totaled 30,500 tons at the end of the month, down 22.0 percent from January 2015 and 0.6 percent from the prior month. At January shipping rates, that represented 3.1 months of supply, down from 3.4 months the prior year.